Affidavit: Ron Wilson altered records to shortchange silver investors

ANDERSON - An affidavit supporting the federal charge against Ron Wilson alleges that when clients decided to liquidate their silver investments with him, he altered account records to leave the investors with less than they were owed.

Wilson, a former Anderson County Council and state Board of Education member, is accused of being behind a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He was arrested this week and charged with mail fraud, but was quickly released from custody Wednesday after his wife put up personal property to cover his $1 million bail. He and his business, Easley-based Atlantic Bullion & Coin, remain under investigation.

Secret Service agent Thomas Griffin Jr. cites in his affidavit the experiences of several specific investors who dealt with Wilson.

Griffin says that Wilson or his company "on one or more occasions created and provided account statements which contained false or fraudulent information" about the prices and number of shares bought for clients.

In Griffin's affidavit, investors are identified only by customer numbers and not by name.

Griffin describes the experience of "Customer No. 10466" who decided to liquidate his investments with Wilson in late March 2011.

When the investor decided to liquidate his shares, the client's final account statement didn't match earlier records, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the investor's April 7, 2011, account statement "showed an increase in price per ounce charged to the client for his first three silver purchases," which had been made in 2010. The April 2011 statement showed that the investor was charged $2.70 more for each ounce of silver that he bought during his first purchase in 2010, and $5.24 more per ounce of silver he bought in two subsequent transactions that same year.

"The April 7, 2011, statement further indicated fewer ounces of silver were purchased for Customer No. 10466 in 2010, leaving the client with fewer ounces to reinvest when AB&C allegedly traded his account in and out ... and with even fewer ounces to liquidate when the client requested that his account be liquidated," Griffin's affidavit says.

Griffin says: "All indications are that the Silver Investment Accounts are nothing more than tools used in an elaborate Ponzi scheme."

Court documents show that from 2009 to 2012, Wilson's business took in between $65 million and $71 million in investments, mostly intended to be for silver.

Wilson told investigators he kept at least $16.9 million worth of his investors' silver in a Delaware depository that had no record of Wilson, his Atlantic Bullion & Coin business or the silver, according to court records.

Wilson's attorney, Jeffrey Merriam of Greenville, has said Wilson is cooperating with authorities.

Merriam has said in previous interviews with the Independent Mail that neither he nor Wilson will comment on the allegations against the former councilman.

If convicted on the federal charge, Wilson could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Wilson has not been charged at the state level.

Mark Plowden, a spokesman for the South Carolina Attorney General's Office, said Thursday that "the state's investigation into the matter is ongoing."